The Council for Institutional Investors, an influential group of top U.S. pension plans, is using Viacom as a “top talking point,” to urge members to take a stronger stance against companies adopting the dual class structure, said Ken Bertsch, executive director of the trade association. Investor concern about dual class companies, in which only one class of investors has voting rights, has been increasing as a growing number of companies are adopting this structure when they go public, Bertsch said. In March, the Council for Institutional Investors adopted a policy that all investors in IPOs should have equal voting rights. There have been eight proposals to collapse the dual share class at S&P 500 companies so far this year, up from zero in 2012, according to proxy adviser Institutional Shareholder Services.
0 thoughts on “Investors Use Viacom Battle to Campaign Against Special Voting Stock”
Comments are closed.